Back in the early 1980s Jimmy Savile fronted a series of TV ads with the tag line, "This is the age of the train". Frankly, it wasn't. At the time the railways were haemorrhaging passengers, while motorways were multiplying and accessible air travel was no longer an impossible dream. Nobody wanted slam-door rattle-bang any more. Fast forward nearly three decades and the situation has changed. Motorways are nose-to-tail and airports have lost their glamour. But trains have gone on doing their own thing. Yes, we've got wonderful new high-speed services in Europe, but there are also hill-climbing antiques, trans-continental empire builders and retro-style sleepers, still plugging away.

That diversity is refreshing in an increasingly homogenised world, but railway travel does share key characteristics. It is a stress-free, uncluttered way of seeing a place, with the chance to meet its population en route. With that in mind, here is my (very subjective) list of the world's top five journeys.

1. The Trans-Siberian Express

This is a rite of passage. Eight days from Moscow to Vladivostok on a huge train that becomes a travelling community. The Trans-Sib is the ultimate meet-the-people experience, with lifelong friendships forged over vodka shots. Seven time zones (though the train, like all trains in Russia, runs on Moscow time), 5,000 miles of track and one shower for the whole train. Find timetables on poezda.net. Or do the journey in comfort on private trains such as the Golden Eagle ( gwtravel.co.uk). Great Rail Journeys (01904 521900; greatrail.com) offers a 17-day tour leaving London on 4 February from £7,995 by rail or from £7,295 with a flight to Moscow.

2. The Caledonian Sleeper

This smog-to-bog sleeper is the Tardis of UK rail. Known as the Deerstalker, it runs overnight from London Euston to Fort William, leaving the 21st century and travelling back in time. The cabins are functional and the ride is clanky, but you wouldn't want to sleep late and miss the scenery's virtuoso performance outside your window after dawn. Scotrail (0845 601 5929; scotrail.co.uk) offers second-class two-bed sleeper advance tickets from £59 one way, or any time tickets for £100 one way.

3. The Venice-Simplon Orient Express

I know this is a pricey way of getting to Venice, but the authenticity and the glamour of this private train is unbeatable. The Venice-Simplon Orient Express (VSOE) is a slice of history, and grand-daddy to a new generation of luxury train journeys. Arguably the world's most famous train, and certainly Europe's longest, it unzips Europe from top to bottom in a substantial journey of more than 1,000 miles that lasts 31 hours. Its carriages are the real deal, most dating back to the 20s and 30s, and have been lovingly restored. A one-way journey on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, from London to Venice, costs £1,595. This includes all meals (but not alcoholic drinks) and accommodation. To book visit orient-express.com or call 0845 077 2222.

4. The Bernina Express

The Swiss are unbeatable at the trains-up-mountains business, and this daily service that tootles over the Alps from Chur, the country's oldest town, to Tirano in Italy may look like a toy, but runs on metre-gauge track that has been designated a Unesco World Heritage site for its engineering. One of the slowest expresses in Europe, it is bright red, is gleamingly clean and boasts panoramic windows, giving you staggering views as it takes the highest railway crossing over the Alps. A one-way ticket from Chur-Tirano costs CHF57 (£35.63), plus a CHF9 (£5) seat reservation fee. For timetables, see rhb.ch.

5. The Nakorn Ping Express

Tour operators will try to push train-interested travellers in the direction of the lavish Eastern & Oriental Express, the south-east Asian equivalent of the VSOE, but Thai Railways' eccentric daily sleeper does the 700km trip from Bangkok in the south to Chiang Mai on the River Ping for a fraction of the price. It is a real slice of local life, and runs six times a day through some of the region's finest landscapes. The food on board is gastronomically exotic but served in polythene bags, and the dawn scenery around Lampang is all rainforest, mountains and hill tribes. A second-class berth on the last train, Number 51, which departs from Bangkok at 10pm, costs from 531 baht, or a bit less than £10. See railway.co.th.

• Andrew Eames is the editor of Great Train Journeys of the World, published by Time Out, price £16.99